LAFONTAINE FLIES
I’ve tied the 62 flies described in Trout Flies: Proven Patterns, the definitive guide to the flies of Gary LaFontaine.
Click here to view the notes from my LaFontaine tying class.
Please DO NOT use any of my photos of my flies for commercial purposes without my permission. Thank you.
Clicking a picture will load a full-size photo of the particular fly.
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- Aft Sparkle
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- Air Head
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- Black June
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- Blackfly Larva
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- Bread
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- Bristle Leech
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- Buzz Ball
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- Cased Caddis Larva
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- Cat’s Ear
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- Clear Wing Spinner
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- Cone
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- Cranefly Larva
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- Creature
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- Cricket
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- Dancing Caddis
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- Deep Sparkle Pupa
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- Deer Hair Hornet
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- Deer Hair Sucker
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- Deer Hair Wooly
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- Diving Caddis
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- Diving Water Boatman
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- Double Caterpillar
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- Double Wing
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- Duck Butt Dun
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- Emergent Sparkle Pupa
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- Firecracker
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- Flame Thrower
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- Flex Cicada
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- Flex Hopper
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- Flex Stone
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- Floating Caddis Larva
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- Floating Damselfly Nymph
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- Flying Ant
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- Foam Ant
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- Foam Beetle
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- Foam Inch Worm
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- Foam Spider
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- Free Living Caddis Larva
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- Gray Coughlin
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- Halo Mayfly Emerger
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- Halo Midge Emerger
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- Lady Heather
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- Marabou Single Egg
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- Marabou Spawn Sac
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- Marabou Worm
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- Mess
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- Mohawk
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- Natural Drift Stonefly Nymph
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- Occasion
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- Plain Jane
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- Rollover Scud
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- Shroud
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- Silver Bi-Color
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- Slider
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- Snow Stone
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- Spruce Moth
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- Stub Wing Bucktail
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- Tear Drop Nymph
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- Twist Nymph
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- Were Wulff
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- White Deer Hair Moth
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- Wiggler
charley said
Great pics/flies. I have “Proven Patterns” but have been having some trouble with the Bristle Leech, specifically the rabbit for the body. Did you use dubbing or hair on the skin? Would zonkers work? Any input would be appreciated, again – beautiful work.
Thanks,
cvh
nwflytyer said
Hi charley,
Are you using a loop of thread to dub the body? For the Bristle Leech I pull the rabbit off the skin and use a dubbing loop to trap as much fur as I can. I like to use the heavy underfur and the spiky guard hairs as well in a bulky mixture. Gary used zonker strips and wrapped them around the shank on his Creature, but that does create a very full body. I believe he called for simply dubbing the body of the Bristle Leech.
Let me know how it works out for you. I like fishing the Bristle Leech in lakes and ponds where I can try to drag it along the bottom and stir up a little sediment.
Thanks for checking in. I appreciate your comments!
Monte
charley said
Monte,
I haven’t used a dubbing loop, but it makes perfect sense. Thanks for the help! I’m itching to try this pattern out – I’ve got a couple of brook trout lakes in the upper penninsula of MI all lined up
Charley
Fly Tying: LaFontaine’s Buzzball « SwittersB & Fly Fishing said
[...] NWFLYTYER & LAFONTAINE’S FLIES [...]
Ted Horechka said
What a great find. I love those pictures. I will be using them to help my own tieing.
nwflytyer said
Hi Ted – Hope they help you out. Some really neat flies that are fun to tie and great to fish. Thanks for stopping by and checking in. -Monte
atlanticsalmonflyguy said
LaFontaine… a modern Charles Cotton it seems. Very nice looking set of flies here Monte!
johnc801 said
What a great resource. I am a huge LaFontaine fan. I re-read The Dry Fly this past winter and have been stocking up on some of Gary’s amazing patterns that I somehow continually neglect to tie and fish.
Great site all the way around.
Thank you.
nwflytyer said
Thank you, Jonc801! I’m glad you found this collection. The Dry Fly was one of those books that really stuck with me and changed the way I thought about flies and design, especially pertaining to Gary’s Theory of Attraction. I fish a lot of his flies, but it’s hard to fish all of them when the ones you use work so well!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Monte